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Sunday, 22 September 2013

In Canada now, political correctness trumps security. Flying while
Muslim means you won’t be forced to uncover your face or lift up your
burqa before boarding a plane. Are we feeling safer yet?
Each passenger must submit his/her own passport and boarding pass so
they can be identified at the last check in point before boarding the
aircraft. EXCEPT FOR MUSLIMS! Canada airport security will not ask a
veiled Muslim to remove her veil and prove her identity.
Frequent flyers know the drill: take off your shoes, surrender your
tweezers and pack your shampoo in those little plastic baggies before
lining up for the naked body scanners. But lift your niqab? Apparently
not.
QMI Agency can reveal thatneither airlines nor security services are
asking Muslim women to lift their veils and prove that the face beneath
matches their photo ID.
The issue came to light through a video taken by Mick Flynn of
Bradford, England. Flynn was boarding a flight at Montreal’s Trudeau
International Airport when he witnessed two women with their faces
covered board an Air Canada Heathrow bound flight without being asked to
remove their veils.
In fact, in the video that Flynn has posted online, a man traveling
with the group hands in all the passports and is the only one to
interact with airline staff while two veiled women simply walk through.
“I complained at the desk — and again as I boarded the plane — asking
if the pilot was happy that two women boarded without being
identified,” Flynn told QMI Agency. “Both members of staff whom I spoke
to were flustered and clearly embarrassed.”
Flynn’s communication with Air Canada and his video posting have
resulted in a threatened lawsuit from the airline. As for answers from
the company about security procedures, their response reveals holes in
Canada’s air security.
Air Canada says it is capable of checking identification in a private
room away from the check-in counter, but said the real responsibility
for security measures lies with CATSA, the Canadian Air Transport
Security Agency. Not so, says CATSA. Greg MacDougall, a spokesman for
CATSA, tells QMI that their guards are primarily looking for metal,
weapons or other banned material, not ensuring that veiled faces match
passport photos.
“We don’t have concerns with that. We have concerns with the fact if
the person has any metal under their clothing,” MacDougall said. A
former CATSA employee, who, until recently worked as a frontline
screener, tells QMI: “We were never allowed to ask anyone with a veil to
lift it. It is their religion.”
Frontline workers for several airlines say that any checks, if they
happen at all, would likely happen at the check-in desk, not at boarding
or security. Most airports have wide gaps between where baggage is
checked and the secure portions of the airport.
Transport Canada says there should be no confusion: “The airline must
be able to verify the identity of all passengers before they are
allowed to board,” the department said in a written statement. Lawyer
David Harris of INSIGNIS Strategic Research says Canadians should be
concerned about what he deems preferential treatment.
“Full veiling has been a boon for those participating in criminal and
terrorist operations,” Harris said pointing to the story of Mustaf
Jama. Jama, a Somali national with a long criminal record, was wanted in
Britain for the 2006 murder of police constable Sharon Beshenivsky. As
police closed in to arrest the career criminal, Jama was able to escape
back to Somalia by wearing a full veil and boarding a flight at
Heathrow.